The next installment, third year is now upon them! Bringing Harry, Ron, Hermione and Theodore with it. Yay! More characters that aren't mine to mess with!

"Now, Theodore, you know what is expected of you," Mr Nott reminded for the umpteenth time, "You need to maintain the family honour. Make some good, pureblood friends and prove what the Nott's are really made of."

Katherine fought the urge to roll her eyes and remind him that her best friends were, in fact, pure bloods, and she'd yet to get really close to any muggle borns. Too much time with Fred and George was having negative effects on her.

"Katherine, I expect you to maintain you're high scores in class," Mr Nott all but growled, Katherine had the forethought to look ashamed as he continued, "Do not disappoint me." He turned around and he was gone, at least this year he'd actually bothered to bring her into the station, though it was only because Theodore was coming this year.

"You mean more than I already have?" Katherine asked the empty place he'd been standing in.

"You ok Kat?" Theodore asked concernedly, he could tell that it was getting harder for her to deal with their father. Every day was an endless chore for her, attempting to maintain the image of a good little pureblood.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Katherine smiled at her brother, who merely frowned.

"You're lucky he left when he did, you're hair's gone red," he informed her, then he sighed, "We won't get to see each other much, will we?"

"No, probably not," Katherine replied, "But it'll be better than when you were at home. You just have to learn the castle than we can meet up in less well known places."

"Right, what about you're…friends," Theodore asked.

"Fred and George will be fine," Katherine replied, Though I might steal the map… She thought, "Anyway, do remember what's going to happen?"

"You're going to find your friends and I'm going to find a compartment full of purebloods?" Theodore offered.

"Pretty much," Katherine nodded, "See you at the sorting then." They gave each other a tight hug before slipping into the crowd. Katherine looked around for the distinct Weasley hair, but found Lee first.

"Give us a look, Lee, go on."

Lee lifted the lid off a box in his arms and the people around him shrieked and yelled as whatever was inside poked out a long, hairy leg.

"I wish people wouldn't ask if they were just going to make noise about it," Katherine commented, showing no hesitation in leaning over the box and looking inside, "There's no way they're letting you keep that."

"Hey, what's with being a downer right after the holiday's Kat?" Lee asked, putting the lid back on, and still grinning widely at the reactions he'd gotten.

"I'm not being a downer, I'm being realistic," Katherine argued, "The teachers are going to take that off you as soon as they realise you've got it. Have you seen Fred and George?"

Suddenly there was a loud yell of "Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" and Katherine caught a flash of red going through the train.

"Never mind," She said, "See you later, don't let the spider loose!" she darted onto the train and found the twins helping a scrawny looking first year get his trunk into the luggage rack.

"Thanks," she heard the scrawny kid say, then watched as he brushed the hair out of his eyes. Her eyes widened fractionally, but she didn't move from her position just out of view.

"What's that?" Fred asked suddenly, pointing at the poor kid's forehead and the lightning shaped scar that was featured on it. Katherine stopped herself from smacking her face in her hand.

"Blimey," George said, clearly in shock, "Are you-?"

"He is," said Fred excitedly. "Aren't you?" He demanded to the boy.

"What?" the boy asked, Katherine wanted to groan, and possibly hit the twins.

"Harry Potter," they chorused in awed voices.

"Oh, him," Replied the famous Harry Potter, and this time Katherine really did smack herself in the face, her friends could be so oblivious sometimes, "I mean, yes, I am."

Katherine slipped off the train as the twins gaped and Harry Potter turned red, the bloody idiots. As she'd expected Mrs Weasley was soon calling out for the two boys.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, mum." The twin's hopped of the trains, still with those awed expressions on their faces, and looked up to see Katherine staring deadpan at them.

"Bloody idiots," She grumbled before they could say so much as 'Hello'. The trio wandered over to the other Weasleys as Mrs Weasley took out her handkerchief.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose." Mrs Weasley said, Ron tried to jerk out of her way but she grabbed him and began rubbing his nose.

"Mum – geroff," He wriggled free.

"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nose?" Said Fred, only to receive a sceptical look from Katherine who wasn't at all entertained by these particular antics.

"Shut up," said Ron.

"Hello Katherine dear," Mrs Weasley greeted, then, "Where's Percy?"

"He's coming now

Percy came striding into sight and Katherine offered him a smile. He had already changed into his billowing black and was wearing his shiny silver prefects badge on his chest. Fred and George had already alerted her to his position, and had spent a lot of time complaining about how pompous this had made him.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves –"

Katherine realised that, for once, Fred hadn't been exaggerating.

"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" asked Fred, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said George, "Once –"

"Or twice –"

"A minute –"

"All Summer –"

"Oh, shut up," Percy replied.

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" George asked.

"Because he's a prefect," Mrs Weasley said fondly, "All right, dear, well, have a good term – send me an owl when you get there." She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.

"Now, you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or –"

Katherine groaned quietly.

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."

"Great idea though, thank mum."

"It's not funny. And look after Ron."

"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."

"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and Katherine wondered if she should point out that, not only was his nose still pink, Mrs Weasley hadn't gotten rid of all the dirt.

"Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" Fred announced suddenly and Katherine groaned again.

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us at the station? Know who he is?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

Ginny's eyes lit up.

"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please …"

"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at the zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there – like lightning."

'Showed no sensitivity at all,' Katherine added silently.

"Poor dear – no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get on the platform."

"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

Mrs Weasley got that very serious look on her face that had the twins backing up slightly and made Katherine grin evilly at their discomfort.

"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them," Katherine said, gaining a smile from Mrs Weasley.

"All right, keep your hair on." Fred grumbled right before a whistle sounded.

"Hurry up!" Mrs Weasley commanded and they each clambered onto the train. Fred, George and Ron leant out the window for their mother to kiss them goodbye while Katherine just waved and Ginny broke into tears.

"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!"

"Only joking, Mum!"

The train pulled away and everyone stepped away from the door.

"Well, I'm gonna find a compartment," Ron informed them as he walked off. Katherine smacked Fred over the head before he could think of something stupid to say.

"Come on you two," she advised, "Let's find the others."

"Oh yes, it's nice to see you too Kat," George replied, "Our holidays? They were fine, how about you? Did you forget niceties?"

"No, but you too rarely follow the same ideas of 'nice' as everyone else does," Katherine pointed out in reply, "Gaping like idiots, did you even introduce yourself?"

"Oh! You're so right!" Fred announced, "Let's go!"

"Wait! Fred! That's not what I…" But Fred had already stuck his head into a compartment.

"Hey, Ron," Fred greeted easily, "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry," said George, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother."

"Sorry about the interruption," Katherine cut in, rolling her eyes, "I'm Katherine, by the way."

"See you later, then." George finished, and they slid the compartment door closed.

"You two are idiots," Katherine informed them, unable to keep the fondness from her voice as she shook her head. It didn't take them long to get to the compartment where Lee was have enormous amounts of fun freaking the girls out with his spider.

"Oh wow, you've actually got one!" George announced as he looked into the box, "I thought you were exaggerating."

"A giant tarantula!" Fred said in awe.

"The correct term would be Acromantula," Katherine pointed out seating herself with the other girls, "And there no way you're going to get to keep it."

"Why not?" Lee asked, Fred and George more preoccupied with getting a good look at it.

"Well, one, if it gets out I'm tossing it out the window," Katherine answered, eyeing the creature warily, "Two, as soon as the teacher's realise you have it they're going to take it off you."

"What're the teachers going to do with it?" Alicia asked doubtfully.

"Best bet?" Katherine replied thoughtfully, "Giving to Hagrid, and knowing him he'll set it loose in the forest where it'll either form a nest or, if the rumours are true, be eaten by the Acromantulas that already live there. I'd bet on the latter personally."

Lee pulled the box towards him protectively, demanding in a horrified tone, "You want my little pet to be eaten?"

"It seems like a good plan to me," Alicia replied, giving the creature a slightly disgusted look.

"Honestly Lee, what possessed you to bring that to school?" Angelina asked

"Well I wasn't going to leave her at home was I?"

"Oh, it's a her now, brilliant," Katherine sighed.

"Oh! Hey guys! Guess who we met!" Fred said excitedly.

"Who?" Lee asked, even as Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Harry Potter!" Both the twins exclaimed.

"No way!" the others gasped.

"Seriously, Ron's sharing a compartment with him right now!"

Katherine watched as the group continued to question the two read heads about the eleven year old boy just down the train from them. It wasn't like she didn't understand, she agreed that him stopping Voldemort was amazing but she hadn't exactly been raised to believe it was a good thing. Her father always argued that 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' was a lucky brat who'd spoiled the lives of purebloods everywhere, he also firmly believed that 'The Dark Lord' would return, though he played his part in public. While her mother had never directly argued these points whenever Katherine asked about it she was more likely to say that Harry Potter is a miracle in and of himself and, while he may one day become the powerful wizard people assumed he was, she doubted he was anything more that another child at the moment. So, Katherine had questionable views compared to the rest of wizarding society but she believed in them, however dark or cold hearted they may seem.

"Hey Kat," Angelina said, breaking into Katherine's thoughts, "How come you're not joining in."

"Oh, I don't really follow the excitement," Katherine replied with a shrug, "He's an eleven year old boy, if you're that interested you should go introduce yourself. Fred and George know where he is."

"Wait, what?" Fred asked looking at her with a disbelieving expression. Katherine looked at him and raised an eyebrow, Fred and George were the only ones brave (stupid) enough to question her about her family so they tended to have vague ideas of what was going on when she suggested a different view to the common belief. After a moment something seemed to click and confusion changed to realisation while Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Ok, ok, so, moving on, you're joining the Quidditch team this year!" Fred announced.

"Subtly of a brick," Katherine mumbled, but apparently only George heard as he snickered quietly.

"You are?" Lee asked, looking confused.

"Remember, she promised to join if we hadn't found a good Seeker by this year," Angelina said.

"Yeah, but, guys, you actually have to wait till tryouts," Katherine pointed out, "I still might not end up on the team."

"Oh, come on," Fred argued, "First years can't have a broom so the only people we haven't already seen are the second years, and I think we already lucked out with Katie."

"Yes you did," Katie nodded, letting herself into the compartment, "What're we talking about? And, wow, Lee! You actually got one!"

Everyone laughed at the repeat reaction and Katie looked into the box curiously.

"Wow, it's all, hairy and stuff," Katie said descriptively, causing more laughter.

"Oh, that's a good point actually," Katherine replied, rummaging through her bag, "If you've got it anyway I wanna try drawing it before it gets taken off you."

"Seriously?" Alicia asked, "Giant spider and your main concern is drawing it?"

"Yep, shove over Fred," was the only reply she got as Katherine sat herself between Lee and Fred so that she could peer into the box, "It's hard to draw small spiders, it's much easier to see detail on this one."

"You, are a twisted child," Katie informed her, taking the seat that had just been vacated.

"Yep," came the reply again as Katherine was already immersed in her drawing.

"Mr Jordan, what are you carrying?" Questioned Professor McGonagall almost as soon as they were out of the carriage, someone must have tipped her off.

"My pet, Professor?" Lee offered hopefully while the others waited for him off to the side.

"Mr Jordan, what kinds of pets are allowed at school?"

"Er, an owl, a cat or a toad, Professor."

"Exactly, I do not believe that that box contains any of these creatures and I am, therefore, confiscating it."

"But, Professor…"

"Any arguments, Mr Jordan, and I shall be forced to remove points."

Lee groaned as Professor McGonagall wandered off with his box, no doubt to put it somewhere for Hagrid before going to see the First years.

"Damn, and you had such a convincing story," Fred said in mock seriousness.

"Shut up, what was I supposed to say?" Lee snapped.

"You wanted to use it for transfiguration practice," Katherine suggested offhandedly, "Now hurry up, we're supposed to be in there before the First years."

The Sorting went along fairly normally. Hermione Granger, a girl who'd stopped by the compartment to ask about a toad just as Fred, George and Lee had been in the middle of making a mess of the food while Katherine sketched and idly chatted with the other girls, came to Gryffindor.

Fred and George groaned at the idea of another book worm in there house, but didn't say anything because if there was one thing they would never argue about, it was the choice of the Sorting hat.

When Neville Longbottom got called up he immediately had her attention because she had been taught to recognise basically all pureblood names, even those who hadn't supported Voldemort. Despite looking very shaky and the mishap with the hat, he was sorted into Gryffindor and the sorting continued. Malfoy came up and Katherine doubted he even needed to try on the hat, feeling her suspicion was confirmed after he was in Slytherin before the hat hardly got on his head.

Theodore looked very calm as he got sorted - Katherine wondered of the rumour of the Troll was still going around - and was sorted into Slytherin fairly easily.

Then, of course, "Potter, Harry." was called and murmurs broke out through the hall as people strained to see the eleven year old. After a moment the hat yelled out "GRYFFINDOR!" and Katherine thought her eardrum would explode from her friends sudden chants. Percy shook Harry's hand as he sat down opposite Nearly-Headless Nick. Ron came to Gryffindor, with cheering though it'd been pretty expected, and Blaise Zabini made his way over to Slytherin. Also rather expected.

Dumbledore gave his speech and everyone dug into dinner. Fred and George made a point, as usual, to eavesdrop on the first years to see who'd ask this year. Katherine informed them the sandy-haired boy they were snickering at was called Seamus Finnigan, she actually listened to the names at the sorting. Katherine heard Hermione and Percy talking and smiled at the enthusiasm the girl showed to her classes. Dinner moved into desert and Lee finally completed his sulking as he dug into the sweets. They didn't talk about anything important, except Fred and George hinting at pranks, basically all went normally until Dumbledore stood up to speak again.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." Now he had the twins' attention, Katherine groaned as the stared up at him with bright, curios eyes. Then Dumbledore announced they'd sing the school song and the grins became, if possible, even wider. Katherine point blank refused to sing Funeral March with them and instead sung to the tune of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' and smirked at them as the school waited for them to finish.

They were just getting up from the table when McGonagall strode over to them. Katie, Angelina and Alicia had no problems with this, as they were rarely engaged in the more serious trouble making, but the boys flicked looked at each other as they tracked through what they'd done so far, only managing to pull up the spider.

"Ms Nott, Mr Weasley and Mr Weasley, please come with me," she commanded, eyeing them off.

"But we haven't done anything yet!" Fred whined making the others laugh and Katherine roll her eyes.

"However, undoubtedly, you will, now come along, the Head Master wants a word." This silenced anymore jokes the twins may have planned as the trio hesitantly followed their head of house. They walked into McGonagall's office, where Dumbledore was waiting patiently for them, a knowing smile in place. McGonagall shut the door behind them, leaving them with the bearded Professor.

"Hello you three," he greeted, "Any big plans for this year?"

"Well, the Quidditch team needs a new Seeker, sir," George offered.

"And we have to start the betting circle on what's going to happen to Quirrel," Fred put in, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Because of his position," Katherine explained, "They decided they were going to start betting on the Defence teachers, it's a less destructive pass time for them."

"Ah, very clever," Dumbledore nodded, "What about the third floor?"

"The one that's off limits?" George clarified.

"Yes, if you're attempts to get into the forest are anything to go by, these boundaries are not particularly effective on you."

"No offence intended sir," Fred offered with a grin.

"And none taken," Dumbledore replied, "Curiosity can be a wonderful trait, however I wanted to, personally, remind you that some dangers are more serious than others and inform you that I would not have set that rule if I did not take this danger very seriously."

The twins nodded solemnly and Katherine just stood there, having had no intentions to attempt to go there anyway.

"Do I have you're word you shall not try to enter the hall?" Dumbledore asked seriously.

"Yes Professor," the trio answered.

"Wonderful," Dumbledore replied, smiling again, "Then off to bed, no doubt your friends are wondering what you're being chided for so early in the year."

"Probably not, sir," George said as they wandered from the office.

"They're used to it by now," Fred explained, and the three began their way up to the tower.

"Wonder what old Dumbles is hiding," Fred pondered.

"I bet you are," Katherine sighed, the boys looked at her, "What?"

"This is the part where you tell us all you're suspicious that seem impossible to work out but end up being correct practically every time," George explained while Fred nodded and Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"I don't always have suspicions about what's going on you know," she pointed out, "Maybe I'm just not interested."

"Right, and we don't want to pull anymore pranks," Fred replied, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, you want some random story about what going on? Ok," she looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding and continuing, "I think Dumbledore is hiding something in the school and has gone out of his way to protect. Which would explain the warning, because it's guarded by something dangerous. I just don't know what it is, or why he's hiding it in the school, but if he wanted to watch it personally it would probably be really important, which means there are multiple levels of protection. So, then you'd have to consider who Dumbledore trusts enough to guard something like that, I'd say at least each of the Heads of House and probably Dumbledore himself."

The twins gaped at her as she gave them a slightly expectant look. There was silence for a moment before Katherine broke into laughter.

"Guys I'm kidding," she laughed easily, "I've got no idea what's going on. You two are just so…cute. Oh! I finally got it! Ok, let's go before Filch turns up."

"Wait! Katherine!"

"What do you mean you finally got it?"

"Katty! Slow down, you're faster than us!"

"It's too early in the year for this Kat!"

"What'd you get?!"

Katherine was fighting more laughs as they reached the Common room. George stopped a few steps away from her but Fred kept going and crashed into Katherine making them tumble into the wall.

"Fred! You did that on purpose," Katherine chided.

"Well duh," Fred replied, "But what'd you get?"

"What's all this noise?" Percy demanded, pushing open the Portrait hole and staring confusedly at the two tangled on the floor.

"His fault," Katherine announced, pushing Fred off her and sliding past Percy, "Congratulations on becoming Prefect by the way, sorry I didn't owl you."

"That's…fine," Percy offered confusedly as his brothers pushed past him.

"Katherine!" they whined, "What'd you get?"

Ok, so this year might be a bit slow going unless someone gives me ideas. I've got a few, but not many for this year. More comments help me make better chapters! So, R&R.